§ Mr. David Curry (Skipton and Ripon)I beg leave to present a petition, containing 7,000 signatures collected in the ancient city of Ripon, seeking the intervention of my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Health to prevent the closure of the maternity unit at the hospital in Ripon. The Friends of Ripon Hospital are seeking that intervention on the following grounds.
There will be severe hardship to families in a very rural constituency if a local facility is closed. There will be special hardship to the 500 service families already in Ripon and to a further 500 who will be there when Dishforth base is fully developed. The unit has an essential role for lying in, even when births have taken place in Harrogate. Finally, although a new hospital is promised to Ripon and figures in the plans, it has no funding whatsover attached to it.
§ To lie upon the Table.